Freight car door closure



May 13, 1 1- L. R. JODOIN FREIGHT CAKDOORCLOSURE Filed Dec. 28, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 12501421 F. Jodaz'n ilmw May 13, 1941? L. R. JODOIN 2,242,132

FREIGHT CAR DOOR CLOSURE Filed Dec. 28, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Liane/1?. Jakazn Patented May l3, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to closure mechanism for freight car doors and it aims to provide a means which is operable to positively draw on the freight car door in order to open it or positively draw on such door to close it.

It is also aimed to provide such a means as will not obstruct the doorway and will not project outwardly from the car beyond the door frame or associated parts, and hence will not offer any obstruction or menace.

It is further aimed to provide such a structure including awindlass for effecting the opening and closing movements of the door, having a novel operating crank movable to position the crank for operation and also to fold such crank to avoid undue projection and enable its co-action with sealing means.

The more specific objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the description following taken in connection with accompanying drawings illustrating an operative embodiment.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a freight car body, in connection with the door of which my improvements are applied, the door bein shown in closed position; a

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of the parts of Figure 1, with the door shown in open position;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view through the car body;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional View also taken fragmentarily through the car body;

Figure 6 is an enlarged detail, partly in section, showing the door latching mechanism;

Figure '7 is a horizontal section taken on the plane of line 1'l of Figure 6, and

Figure 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 88 of Figure 1.

Referring specifically to the drawings, a conventional car body, such as a freight car body, is shown at H] having a doorway ll through one side wall l2 thereof which is adapted to be closed by a horizontally slidable door I3 mounted on the exterior of such wall.

Said door adjacent each corner has a bracket [4 fastened thereto equipped with a guide pulley ll which is grooved and slidably engaged with tracks or rails 16 fastened on the exterior of the side l2 adjacent the top and bottom of the door.

At one end of the doorway, a vertical, angular metallic abutment member for the door, is

fastened to wall l2 as at ll and ithas a keeper opening l8 therethrough which is engageable by the hook end l9 of a latch 20, pivoted as at 2| to the door l3 and urged into lowermost or latched position, as shown in Figures 1 and 6, through the urgency of an associated spring element 22. This latch 20 must be manually lifted to disengage the hook element from abutment member I! in opening the door but will automatically reengage it upon closing the door since the latch member at its forward end is beveled as at 23.

A pair of draw members such as cables 24 are operable to pull the door from the closed position of Figure 1 to the open position of Figure 3 when latch 20 is released from the member l1. Such cables 24 are trained over guide pulleys 25 fastened to brackets 26 in turn fastened to the outside of the wall l2. Said cables 24 are also guided and housedin the tracks or rails l6, then passed over guide pulleys 26 of brackets 21 fastened to the side wall I2 and are terminally fastened as at 28 to adjacent brackets M or other parts of the door l3.

Another pair of draw elements, shown in the form of cables 29 are secured to the opposite edge portion of the door I3 as to plates 30 secured thereto and such cables 29 are trained for-instance one over one of the pulleys 25 and the other over a pulley 3| fastened to one of the brackets 26.

A suitable windlass is provided at 32 having a casing 33 which is fastened as at 34 to the wall l2 on the outside of the latter. Such windlass includes a drum or shaft 35, which is rotatable in the casing and has the adjacent terminals of the cables 24 and 29 fastened thereto, the former being fastened in such a manner that when the shaft or drum 35 is wound in one direction it will draw on the cables 24 and pay out the cables 29, while when it is turned in the opposite direction it will draw on the cables 29 and pay out on the cables 24. Said cables pass through the casing 32 as at openings 36 therein. On the shaft or drum 35, a gear wheel 31 is keyed which is enmeshed with a pinion 38 carried by a shaft 39 also journaled in the casing 32. Shaft 39 is rotatable in either direction so that its pinion 38 will rotate the gear 37 and rotate the shaft or drum 35 in either direction.

1 Attention is called to the fact that an operating member M! is provided for shaft 39 which is engageable detachably with a square portion 4! of the shaft, at a slot 42 of the operating member, of corresponding width to the portion M and preferably extending inwardly from one end of the operating member. This operating member has an angular end portion or crank 43 so that in the dotted line position of Figure 8 which is the full line position of Figure 3, crank 43 may be rotated in either direction to rotate the shaft 39. At the same time, such operating member 40 may be removed and reversed to occupy the full line position of Figure 8 wherein the same slot 42 engages the end 4| to prevent turning of the shaft 39 and to enter the crank 43 in an opening 44 of a bracket 45 fastened to the casing 33 so that a tie wire 45 of a sealing device 46 may be passed through registering openings in the crank 43 and bracket 45.

As a result of the construction described, it will be noted that the Windlass device and operating mechanism does not project outwardly beyond the mounting means for the door and hence does not offer any obstruction or hazard. Furthermore, the same is located out of the doorway and will not interfere with loading or unloading. The door may be sealed when desired by means of the device 46 and its wire 45. Also, through the turning of the shaft 39, pinion 42 and gear wheel 31, the shaft or drum 35 will be rotated. Through rotation of the drum 35 in one direc tion, one set of cables 24 or 29 will draw the door [3 to its open position while paying out the other set of cables, and rotation of the shaft 35 in the opposite direction will draw the door to closed position while paying out the other set of cables.

Various changes may be resorted to provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

In combination with the wall of a car having a doorway therethrough and a door slidable with respect to the doorway, rails secured to said wall at the top and bottom of the door having vertically disposed flanges laterally offset from the wall with free edges facing each other, rollers on said door slidably engaged with said free edges, draw elements connected adjacent one edge of the door, draw elements connected adjacent the other edge of the door, the offsetting of said flanges accommodating movement of the draw elements behind the flanges, an abutment member for one edge of the door connecting said rails and having a flange extending outwardly at a right angle to the door, the last mentioned flange having openings through which the draw members pass and are guided, pulleys on the wall to impart direction to the travel of the draw elements, and rotatable operating means relatively close to the abutment member to which the draw elements are connected operable to move either the first or second draw elements in one direction as the remainder are paid out.

LIONEL R. J ODOIN. 

